Rotary tube and pipe cleaner



June 1931- R. w. RANDALL ET AL I ROTARY TUBE AND PIPE CLEANER Filed April 4, 1930 INVENTORS R. 4 .126212 dad an cf. C. Koch ATTORN EY Patented June 23, 1931 UNITED STATES RICHARD W. RANDALL AND JOHN C. KOCH, OF STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA RGT'ARY TUBE AND PIPE CLEANER Application filed April 4,

This invention relates to cleaners for tubes and pipes to remove hard deposit from the interior walls of the same and which accumulate in hot water pipes, refrigerant condenser tubes, steam boiler tubes and the like. Such deposits in time seriously afiect the efficiency of the structure of which the pipes or tubes are a part, and such tubes must therefore be cleaned out. in providing a cleaning tool for this purpose we were confronted with the fact that steel tubing is not always of a uniform diameter and that iron and steel pipe are frequently out of round and vary greatly in their internal diameter.

The principal object of our invention is to provide a device for tne purpose which will quickly and completely remove the hardest of deposits from water conveying ducts and the like, and which is so constructed that it can conform to any irregularities in the size or contour of the interior of the ducts, so that there is no danger of the tool cutting into the metal or of failing to remove any incrustation in the duct.

A further object is to produce a simple and inexpensive device and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purpose for which it is designed.

These objects we accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views.

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of our improved cleaner.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same.

Fig. 3 is an outer or front end view of the cleaner as operating in a pipe.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, the device comprises a cylindrical body 1 having a diameter somewhat smaller than the interior diameter of the pipe 2 in which the cleaner is to be used. The body is tapped at one end as at 3 to receive an operating and driving shaft. From a point a short 1930. Serial No. 441,536.

distance beyond the tapped portion to its opposite end the body is longitudinally slotted as at 4 at several circumferentially spaced points to divide the cylinder into a corresponding number of separated fingers 5, three of such fingers being preferably thus formed. From the inception of the slots at the tapped end of the body to a point a short distance from the, opposite end the body is relatively thin walled, as shown in Fig. 2, so that the 'fingers will likewise be thin and thus flexible and capable of yielding inwardly or-toward the axis of the body if necessary.

Removably secured in the outer ends of the fingers are spindles '6 preferably in the form of headed bolts, which extend axially of the body and are grouped about a circle concentric with the same. Turnable on the spindles are hardened steel cutters 7 prefereasily removed for resharpen'ing' or to be replaced if desired by others of different cutting form, as conditions may require. The diameter of the wheels is such that they project outwardly of the body, so as to closely engage the interior wall of the pipe.

The outer ends of the fingers where the cutters are mounted are quite thick andare consequently heavy as shown at 9. Therefore when the tool is rotated these thick and weighted ends have a fly-ball or governorlike action tending to spring the fingers outwardly and thus cause the cutting wheels to bite into the deposits in the pipe. The body is open or hollow axially or inwardly of the fingers from end to end so that water or some other washing liquid may be fed into the pipe from the hollow operating shaft S secured to the outer end of the body.

The cutters are so arranged relative to the fingers that when the tool is inserted in the pipe said cutters will have a positive pressure against the surface to be cleaned. As the tool body is rotated by hand or power, and also moved lengthwise with a gentle pressure, the sharp teeth of the cutting wheels chip away the deposit by virtue of the toothed surfaces both rolling over and moving lengthwise along the incrusted surface being engaged. 'While the cleaning or chipping operations are in progress a. liquid may be flowed through the pipe from the body to carry away the particles as they are chipped or cut off. By reason of the flexibility of the fingers it will be readily seen that the cutting wheels may follow any irregularities of the tube surface as well as adapting themselves to any variation in the diameter of the tube or pipe.

The cutters have different numbers of teeth. This prevents the possibility of the teeth tracking with each other in the deposits in the pipe when the tool is turned, and which would prevent the thorough cutting and removal of the deposits.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that we have produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

lVhile this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A tube cleaner comprising a body slotted lengthwise from one end toward the other to form a plurality of fingers capable of flexing toward and from each other at their free ends, and cutting wheels curnably mounted on the different fingers at their free ends on axes parallel to that of the body, said wheels projecting outwardly of the periphery of the body to engage the interior walls of a tube in which the body is inserted.

2. A tube cleaner comprising a body slotted lengthwise from one end toward the other to form a plurality of fingers capable of flexing toward and from each other at their free ends, and tube engaging cutting elements mounted on the fingers at their free ends; said fingers being weighted at their free ends whereby to impart a centrifugal movement to the fingers when the body is rotated.

In testimony whereof we affix our sigiu tures.

RICHARD WV. RANDALL JOHN C. KOCH. 

